Supportive Voice  Vol. 10 No. 2  Spring 2004

by Anne M. Jones, MN, RNC

Ms. Jones is Clinical Nurse Specialist, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, which is at 501 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91505; 818-847-4644 (work); 818-889-8752 (home). A certified ELNEC trainer and a Med-Surg CNS specializing in pain management, Ms. Jones has been instrumental in developing programs, standards, and education on pain and palliative care for several Southern California hospitals and has spoken nationally on pain, comfort care, and therapeutic touch. 

Last summer our Comfort Care Team had a remarkable patient who lingered many weeks longer than expected. John had a type of inoperable cancer that compressed his spinal cord, causing him terrible pain and progressive paralysis. His wife, Nina, remained at his bedside as the weeks dragged on. The couple comforted us with their wit and undying love through three major holidays and the construction of a new hospital wing.

Nina cut out magazine pictures of flowers all shapes and sizes and taped them up all over John's room. It gave the once stark hospital room a bright pink glow. You felt like you were entering a rose garden every time you would visit. The room was strikingly cheerful and serene. Instead of avoiding the room of "that dying patient," people came from all over to just visit and share a little prayer. John and Nina were healers.

During John's long hospital stay, Nina asked each person who entered the room to do a stitch or two on a needlepoint she was working on. The stitching was a large picture of colorful butterflies. When the needlepoint was completed, Nina framed it and donated it to the unit in her husband's name. We adopted the butterfly symbol for comfort care.

We put a butterfly magnet on the door jam of a patient who is dying and give it to the family when the patient leaves. John and Nina taught us what comfort care should look like—a rose garden. We converted a semi-private room on our transitional care unit into a "comfort care" room for patients who are actively dying. The staff selected homey furniture, music, art, and an array of employee-donated items, such as "real" Kleenex and hand-crocheted lap blankets. Our staff members really appreciate care of the sick and dying. We dim the lights, play soft music, and say prayers with our patients. We visit more, "just because," any patient who has a butterfly magnet on his or her doorway (our symbol for graceful passing). John and Nina opened our eyes to butterflies and roses.

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Permission was granted to use this patient's story.